Still A Bit Rough

D'oh! I guess I'd fail barber school, using the DEvette: my balloon would pop for sure! While the blade was more firmly held, preventing flex, the pitch still naturally went too steep for effective traction control. In my practiced hands, that resulted in a minor weeper and alum sting slightly less than the Dragonfeng. And a slightly closer shave, which yet still looks shady because of excessive exfoliation.

Prepping with jojoba oil and lathering Pre de Provence No. 63, the hair was noticeably tougher for the Rapira Supersteel to handle. I don't think that was the main problem, though. Nor was it the bad set-up of yesterday's shave, being sort of too close.

Again, I'm sorry to be speaking of failure about a shave that a recent convert to DE might find delightfully pain-free and close. Since late last autumn, it has been my explicit goal to minimize exfoliation. More recently, I associated that aim with what I know of standard practice for barbers.

There are videos of barbers pitching the blade high, bringing fingers and thumb off of their perch square on the spine, to pinch the blade along its width. The digits may be performing the traction control function of our DE hardware, in that case. It also occurs to me that the large contact area of the blade itself -- it's length and lack of curvature -- may well distribute traction.

It felt like that was what I was missing, today. I'd adjust only enough to catch hair again, and -- gotcha! -- too much traction, edge at the skin again. Not digging in, like on someone who doesn't know to press behind the stroke, but there, nonetheless. Enough to exfoliate.

So have I resolved anything, here? I don't see any open blade self-shavers doing the meticulous blade control and focused skin tensioning  that barbers do. Since I have accessed some basic technique, the shavettes likewise remain an attractive option for me: a simple, low angle, skin-sparing shave. For a little extra reach on those whiskers under the chin, the DEvette is good, and for educational purposes, a half-sider is great. But since I have a shavette ready to perform the same function, I can let it go for good, along with the crazy blade flex razors.

I don't know... I might get self-conscious about graying pubic hair someday. (When's the last time you searched "shaving" from the top of YouTube?) I wouldn't want to mess around with a shavette down there. And the flex razors could be the fastest one-pass option -- on my face -- analogous to cartridges. Yeah, gotta keep 'em all, I guess.